The above photo are some "fun" cards we've been using in the Cube for a while.
We've been drafting with "Mine" for around a year and it's been a fun card to include in draft. This card is obviously better as you can take your current pack OR any future pack. I think it's typically wrong to take "Mine" early in packs because you miss out on other pieces you need (lands, archetype cards that may wheel, etc) but I can't deny the fun factor. And sometimes you see a pack with a Mox, Black Lotus, Elspeth and 5 more cards for your deck and you slam "Mine!" and laugh at everyone It's now a running thing in our Cube drafts where someone always seem to say "I wish there was 'Mine!' in this pack!". It's a card that can be last pick on occasion but sometimes it still gets picked in the middle of a pack for some good value. Definitely a great card that enhances the draft environment & belongs in all Cubes that will run Conspiracy cards.
I will test Agent over "Mine!" to see how people like the difference.
Pretty Lucky is another card whose pick order varies depending on the number of drafters but it's consistently a high pick card. It feels like a more balanced version of Power Play which says to go first every game. Anyone who'd like to test Power Play should add the errata of only allowing the person to go first in game one of each match. This card has been sweet.
I tried a few practice drafts using CubeTutor, to test out Worldknit
To start, I would take the card I would normally have picked first, then mentally substitute Worldknit, i.e. taking it P1P1. The decks looked pretty brutal: one was a 5 colour aggro/tempo deck. With a host of 1 and 2 drops, and topping off with a handful of stellar 4 drops (Cryptic Command, Hero of Oxid Ridge, Hero of Bladehold). The only card I was unhappy to include was a Worldly Tutor - not dreadful but I wouldn't normally want the card disadvantage/tempo loss in aggro. Picking things like Slayers' Stronghold, Maze of Ith and Mishra's Factory just felt unfair. Being guaranteed to curve from Savannah Lions into Ash Zealot into Geralf's Messenger seemed ridiculous. I'd be astonished if the deck didn't X-0.
Interestingly, in each of the decks I'd have wanted 33 of a single basic land type, to switch on Kird Ape, Rofellos and Fireblast respectively. This might be awkward when it comes to sleeving up basics.
I also built a 5-colour token deck and a 5-colour goodstuff deck. Again, there both looked strong and had only a couple of dud cards. The main thing seems to be that you have to pay attention to your curve.
I also tried a couple of drafts substituting it as my first pick in pack two and three. It gets significantly worse, as you are more likely to have a larger number of cards that are off theme or off curve, as well as strictly worse e.g. Shocklands which are worse than a basic land in these decks.
If this is picked pack one, I think that autopiloting into aggro would be the best strategy. This would seriously distort the draft,as one player would be sucking up aggro cards irrespective of colour, making things very hard for other aggro drafters.
I'm torn on this card. The variance seems super high, and it is possibly a P1P1 over almost any cube card. Who cares if you have to run every card you draft, if every card is a cube card. it is supremely liberating to be able to ignore colour restrictions, and sculpt a perfect curve and archetype. Pack two it is probably still good enough, but if it turns up in pack three I could see it not being run.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
Yeah, Worldknit seems super cool - amazing P1P1 but possibly unplayable late in the draft, which is certainly unique. I agree on all of that, but I'm not totally sure if I would necessarily go into hard aggro with it. You could do some crazy 5 colour control with lots of removal and counterspells and every manland as wincons. I would depend on my mood and subsequent picks in the next packs. It may be a little too insane but I plan to play it to find out! The point about needing a zillion of a basic land type for a specific card is not something I'd considered. 33 Forests is not something I have sleeved up for cubing!
As for the other Conspiracies, the one that gives you a choice two hands (Backup Plan) at open of play also seems great, and I quite like the free Twincast-for-a-named-spell one (Double Stroke) too. For the reasonably low opportunity cost of not taking an actual playable, having the ability to potentially double up on a Time Walk or something seems actually cool and fair. Lastly, Advantageous Proclamation and Power Play are both good and not potentially broken. I do wonder if the last one to be spoiled will be a Mythic and somehow madder than Worldknit.
I've done a couple more practice drafts for a giggle. The number of sleeved basics is an issue: I just picked a Vedalken Shackles safe in the knowledge that all my basic lands could be islands.
You're right: you don't need to go hard into aggro. The draft strategy seems to be as follows:
1) P1P1 Worldknit
2) Pick the most broken card in your next pack
3) Draft the archetype best suited to 2)
4) Keep an eye on your curve, but gleefully ignore mana costs
5) Chortle malevolently as you pick up late multicolour bombs
6) Profit
Now this is only based on testing against cubetutor bots, but I seriously think I would pick this over Sol Ring P1P1. Packs two and three, not so much.
The fact that there is so much redundancy in a cube, and mana curves tend to be so low makes this a very easy card to abuse. In my tests there have only ever been one or two cards in each deck I would not be happy to draw, and the fact that deck size is likely to be around 75 cards means that the chance of actually drawing one is a breeze.
Another advantage: after slamming 30 or so basic lands into your deck you will be able to sit back smugly and complain about how long it is taking your fellow drafters to deck build.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
For those who are into playing with Conspiracies I think Back Up Plan clearly is the strongest.With two hands you can take huge risks with aggro decks and your mana base. If you have a low enough curve you can get away with running an insane low amount of lands.
Backup Plan looks super powerful and is probably a first pick in almost any booster. Power Play is super strong in decks that want to win quickly (aggro and fast reanimator). Advantageous Proclamation is weaker than those two, but still quite desirable. Sentinel Dispatch is the weakest of the "open" conspiracies so far, but can buy a slow deck another turn. Plus, Tinker... Worldknit can lead to some really weird drafts and I am not sure how to feel about it. There is also the basic land problem.
I am not sure if I should include wacky stuff like these conspiraries in my cube. Maybe I give them a test run as additional cards, before deciding if they get actual slots in the cube. I am not cubing with any of the hidden agendas (or any other card that forces you to write something down) though.
One nice thing about all those draft altering cards is that they will be super cheap if you buy them as singles.
The question as to what to do with the conspiracies is a good one. Are they just too good for cube? Or will their inclusion change cube to something very different from what we know? We live in interesting times!
I snuck Worldknit into the draft last night. A player opened it in his 3rd pack and slammed it. It was just a fantastic cube card. Everyone laughed about it, talked about how envious they were of it, how great it was, but it wasn't broken by any stretch. He ended up playing a 61-card deck with some insane plays and 1 or 2 hilarious duds as well (sweet Entomb, bro).
Highlights of his deck were probably Gavony Township and Slayers' Stronghold, which both get extra super stupid when they are utopia lands in addition to their special ability.
In short, it was incredibly *fun* and everyone talked about how much they enjoyed the games with it in play. Was it as good for him as a P1P1 Sol Ring? I doubt it. But it was way more entertaining, and I think that's about all you can ask for out of a cube card. I haven't decided what to do with conspiracies in general (I'm pretty hesitant to just add my 5 or 6 favorites to the card pool), but Worldknit will be the exception for sure.
I told myself when the conspiracies first came out that I wasn't going to cube any of them due to power level concerns, lowering the overall playable count, or simply not being interesting enough to justify delving into. I think I might include Worldknit though, simply for the fun factor. No card is unplayable in cube, and I can only imagine the stories that will come from drafting in an entirely different way and having synergies that you never would have thought about before.
For those who are into playing with Conspiracies I think Back Up Plan clearly is the strongest.With two hands you can take huge risks with aggro decks and your mana base. If you have a low enough curve you can get away with running an insane low amount of lands.
It would also support combo decks in the same way. Anything that is powerful but inconsistent gets better with this.
I snuck Worldknit into the draft last night. A player opened it in his 3rd pack and slammed it. It was just a fantastic cube card. Everyone laughed about it, talked about how envious they were of it, how great it was, but it wasn't broken by any stretch.
Picking this in pack 3 is quite different from picking it pack 1, as you are more likely to have wasted picks on fixing or cards that are bad for your deck. For instance, if there is nothing good for me when I am drafting aggro I might pick a sweeper to stop anyone from playing it against me. This is a card that actively hurts my strategy and I would not want to run. If you know you can run any card, you are more likely to pick cards that are at least playable in your deck.
Edit: @guyincorporated - I tried following your cube tutor link to see what sort of monster could be drafted from your cube with Worldknit P1P1, but the link goes to the main page not your cube.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
I hear alot of people talking about not wanting to add some of these cards because of the cuts they would have to make to fit them in their 360 cube. I am adding 4 of these cards into my 360 cube and don't need to make a cut due to Lore seeker adding 15 additional cards to my 360. Love it.
Total side note but I like how people are discussing running this over itself.
Well, it has to be said that Kolaghan is clearly better than Kolaghan. Considering what BR decks usually want and how stiff the competition in this guild is, there is no way that I would run Kolaghan over Kolaghan! Kolaghan might make it in as the sixth guild card or so. Kolaghan on the other hand ranks several places below that.
It was so funny to me when they described this as a downgrade to the original Zurgo during the Pax East panel. I was thinking if this is a downgrade, they should really "downgrade" all legendary creatures. Haha.
My deck designing is quite concise at this point:
1. Come up with deck idea
2. Realize this idea is somehow fundamentally similar to another deck I have or that is commonly played in my group
3. Decide I don't want to disassemble one of my existing decks
4. Give up and do nothing
I don't see the point of this new shroud mechanic. It's strictly worse than Hexproof. Threshold is pretty bad too, Delirium is a much better mechanic and probably easier to activate.
Otherwise this card is a pretty neat guy. Dodges removal and grows into a Primal Huntbeast. 3/5
Got to test a ton of Conspiracy cards in a 2-man draft last night (we sadly didn't have enough for 4+). A little background for this conversation: We did a grid draft and my opponent ended up Boros and I ended up W/U control splashing R.
My buddy & I thought that many Conspiracy cards would be good and each one we played was even better than we expected.
Advantageous Proclamation is a card that doesn't beat you over the head with how insane it is. Rather it casually increases your win percentage by increasing the chances you draw all of your insane cards.
Backup Plan was awesome for me. In all three games I kept the second set of seven I drew. Totally awesome. I likely would have had to mulligan two of the three original opening hands. There's also something really cool about drawing seven cards, looking at your hand then drawing seven more. So sweet.
Double Stroke is an absolute bonkers card. I was thinking of insane things like Recall, Time Walk or Demonic Tutor. Instead my Boros opponent Doubled up on Char. In game 1 he used it to burn me out at 8 life. In game 3 he used it to kill my Dungeon Geists & Hero of Bladehold. Both cards that Boros can struggle with & he 2-for-1'd me for 3 mana.
All three of those cards are easily first pickable in a powered Cube environment.
Brago's Favor was put on a card that never showed up in any of the games. I forget what he actually put it on but some cards my opponent could have used it on were Elspeth KE or Zealous Conscripts. It would have been better in my deck with cards like big Jace, Mana Vault or Sun Titan.
My opponent had Immediate Action on his Molten-Tail Masticore but never drew it. After some discussion he agrees he should have put it on his Keldon Marauders. All decks will want a card like this but some decks will value it higher. Besides creatures that attack, imagine putting it on something like Rofellos, Fauna Shaman or Bloodline Keeper to get immediate value.
Iterative Analysis allowed my opponent to pay one red mana to do 3 damage to my creature & then drew a card to replace it.
I never got to use Secrets of Paradise on my Wall of Omens but that would have been awesome.
My opponent was going to use Unexpected Potential to cast Elspeth in a R/G deck but he ended up R/W and instead used it to cast Dark Confidant in a Boros deck.
Worldknit didn't fit well with a grid draft so it didn't get played. However, we've done some drafts on CubeTutor assuming we drafted Worldknit P1p1. Obviously it gets worse the later you get it but these drafts were quite interesting and challenged how a person normally approaches a draft. Manlands become high picks (especially ones that don't enter tapped). Taking a good card versus a land becomes an actual decision. Here are the decks we drafted with Worldknit (in the order in which we drafted them):
Paliano, the High City came around about 1/3 of the way through the draft. My opponent looked to be RGb. I therefore named U&W to go with his naming red. Of course he ended URW making Paliano the best land in his deck.
Cogwork Librarian was a neat card in a Grid draft format. Once it showed up it seemed to get swapped every pack. I can't wait to see how chaotic it will be in a regular-sized draft. This will be another high pick as it can enable two first picks in a future pack.
We used a few more Conspiracy cards but they didn't make an appearance in the draft. Overall we're very happy with how the cards played in the draft and are excited to see how they will perform in a traditional-sized draft. I'm glad I kept an open mind about testing these in my Cube because they've been way better than I expected. The 9 "Conspiracy" cards we're testing are:
Based on early returns I wouldn't be surprised if all of these cards stay in my Cube for the long term. Conspiracy will make the Cube environment a little higher variance than some people would like but I think the stories & situations that will happen during the games as well as how much more interactive the drafting will become make them worth trying.
Everyone should at least test a handful of Conspiracy cards to see how they play in your draft and to see how much your play group likes them. I can already tell that they're going to be a hit with my group.
Helpful post, kingneb. Can you explain how you used Cogwork Librarian in Grid? I don't really see the utility in a format where you're already taking multiple cards per pack.
Yeah, I think it may be too good in Grid Draft format. Or at least format-warping in that each player gets an extra card every other round. One of us would take a row/column, then put Cogwork Librarian on one of the remaining 6 spots on the grid and take that card. This went on for multiple packs. It was pretty sweet to get an awesome row then grab a singleton Mox that was in a different spot on the grid
sometimes it's not that insane though. I imagine the "draw a card when you cast X" makes cards like firebolt and think twice awesome, not super insane like the aformentioned ones do
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
Iterative Analysis ("draw a card when you cast X") would be pretty good with Forbid. Not sure if it would be super insane.
I knew there was some buyback card I was forgetting! Capsize doesn't really care I guess.
I think that's why I wont be using these name specific ones. the variance is already super high, but sometimes you get really broken interactions like the glen elendra archmage above
The cool thing about these cards is that they can easily be included as an adjunct colorless section. I plan on picking them all up once singles are available and shuffling them into a draft based on everyone's mood. It'll be a nice option that's not quite as crazy as planechase (which is a bit too crazy for my group).
The conspiracies are interesting because they all confer some relatively small advantage (or in the case of a few, like Backup Plan, a large advantage) at the cost of a draft pick and a slot in the cube. Putting aside personal preference, I see a couple of the draft constructs and maybe 5 or 6 conspiracies being good enough to include - some of the lower impact conspiracies are probably not worth it.
I find most have little impact and will not include any in my classic cube. Worldknit is too build around to matter. Unexpected potential might as well be a 5 colour land, and you can splash almost anything. The "name a card" conspiracies will matter too little. I think naming a card and having it not appear in many games, only to have some marginal benefit in the few games is not worth the bookkeeping and cube spot. It gives a lot of disappointing moments whenever you do not draw the named the card. (These cards are simply much at home in regular drafts because you can draft multiple cards of the same name)
Having a choice for your opening with Backup Plans in indeed powerful; and reducing your deck by 5 cards makes it significantly more consistent. These are the two I am considering, as they also require zero bookkeeping and they do not affect the mid game. Not sure if they are worth the cube spot, but my initial gut feeling is still not to include them.
In my Mirran cube though, Secret Summoning, Muzzio's Preparations, Secrets of Paradise, seems to be good with tokens (Myrs and Golems) and Myr Servitors (there are multiple mgr servitors available for drafting). Sentinel Dispatch is a free token every game that enables Metalcraft, Affinity, and all other Artifact matters cards. Plus they are all colourless that fits into the Mirran theme I like the fact that they are all played face up and require no bookkeeping. (Most likely will just name Myr, Golem or Servitor) which is simple enough.
EDIT: I realised that the 3 are still Hidden Agendas, but still it will be easy to keep track as "token tribal lords"
Do the Hidden Agendas actually work with tokens though? They say "name a card" which I think means an actual Magic card and not a type of token.
The Hidden Agendas become a lot more interesting in a Set Cube that runs multiples of commons and uncommons or a Double Cube that runs every card exactly twice. In a traditional singleton cube, they seem too swingy. When you don't draw that one named card, they do nothing, but some combinations are super strong and you get a huge advantage if you actually draw the named card.
The above photo are some "fun" cards we've been using in the Cube for a while.
We've been drafting with "Mine" for around a year and it's been a fun card to include in draft. This card is obviously better as you can take your current pack OR any future pack. I think it's typically wrong to take "Mine" early in packs because you miss out on other pieces you need (lands, archetype cards that may wheel, etc) but I can't deny the fun factor. And sometimes you see a pack with a Mox, Black Lotus, Elspeth and 5 more cards for your deck and you slam "Mine!" and laugh at everyone It's now a running thing in our Cube drafts where someone always seem to say "I wish there was 'Mine!' in this pack!". It's a card that can be last pick on occasion but sometimes it still gets picked in the middle of a pack for some good value. Definitely a great card that enhances the draft environment & belongs in all Cubes that will run Conspiracy cards.
I will test Agent over "Mine!" to see how people like the difference.
Pretty Lucky is another card whose pick order varies depending on the number of drafters but it's consistently a high pick card. It feels like a more balanced version of Power Play which says to go first every game. Anyone who'd like to test Power Play should add the errata of only allowing the person to go first in game one of each match. This card has been sweet.
My 540 card Powered Cube last updated March 2022
To start, I would take the card I would normally have picked first, then mentally substitute Worldknit, i.e. taking it P1P1. The decks looked pretty brutal: one was a 5 colour aggro/tempo deck. With a host of 1 and 2 drops, and topping off with a handful of stellar 4 drops (Cryptic Command, Hero of Oxid Ridge, Hero of Bladehold). The only card I was unhappy to include was a Worldly Tutor - not dreadful but I wouldn't normally want the card disadvantage/tempo loss in aggro. Picking things like Slayers' Stronghold, Maze of Ith and Mishra's Factory just felt unfair. Being guaranteed to curve from Savannah Lions into Ash Zealot into Geralf's Messenger seemed ridiculous. I'd be astonished if the deck didn't X-0.
Interestingly, in each of the decks I'd have wanted 33 of a single basic land type, to switch on Kird Ape, Rofellos and Fireblast respectively. This might be awkward when it comes to sleeving up basics.
I also built a 5-colour token deck and a 5-colour goodstuff deck. Again, there both looked strong and had only a couple of dud cards. The main thing seems to be that you have to pay attention to your curve.
I also tried a couple of drafts substituting it as my first pick in pack two and three. It gets significantly worse, as you are more likely to have a larger number of cards that are off theme or off curve, as well as strictly worse e.g. Shocklands which are worse than a basic land in these decks.
If this is picked pack one, I think that autopiloting into aggro would be the best strategy. This would seriously distort the draft,as one player would be sucking up aggro cards irrespective of colour, making things very hard for other aggro drafters.
I'm torn on this card. The variance seems super high, and it is possibly a P1P1 over almost any cube card. Who cares if you have to run every card you draft, if every card is a cube card. it is supremely liberating to be able to ignore colour restrictions, and sculpt a perfect curve and archetype. Pack two it is probably still good enough, but if it turns up in pack three I could see it not being run.
My 380 Beginners’ Cube on Cube Tutor
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
As for the other Conspiracies, the one that gives you a choice two hands (Backup Plan) at open of play also seems great, and I quite like the free Twincast-for-a-named-spell one (Double Stroke) too. For the reasonably low opportunity cost of not taking an actual playable, having the ability to potentially double up on a Time Walk or something seems actually cool and fair. Lastly, Advantageous Proclamation and Power Play are both good and not potentially broken. I do wonder if the last one to be spoiled will be a Mythic and somehow madder than Worldknit.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
You're right: you don't need to go hard into aggro. The draft strategy seems to be as follows:
1) P1P1 Worldknit
2) Pick the most broken card in your next pack
3) Draft the archetype best suited to 2)
4) Keep an eye on your curve, but gleefully ignore mana costs
5) Chortle malevolently as you pick up late multicolour bombs
6) Profit
Now this is only based on testing against cubetutor bots, but I seriously think I would pick this over Sol Ring P1P1. Packs two and three, not so much.
The fact that there is so much redundancy in a cube, and mana curves tend to be so low makes this a very easy card to abuse. In my tests there have only ever been one or two cards in each deck I would not be happy to draw, and the fact that deck size is likely to be around 75 cards means that the chance of actually drawing one is a breeze.
Another advantage: after slamming 30 or so basic lands into your deck you will be able to sit back smugly and complain about how long it is taking your fellow drafters to deck build.
My 380 Beginners’ Cube on Cube Tutor
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
I feel compelled to repeat everything I hear
Power Play is super strong in decks that want to win quickly (aggro and fast reanimator).
Advantageous Proclamation is weaker than those two, but still quite desirable.
Sentinel Dispatch is the weakest of the "open" conspiracies so far, but can buy a slow deck another turn. Plus, Tinker...
Worldknit can lead to some really weird drafts and I am not sure how to feel about it. There is also the basic land problem.
I am not sure if I should include wacky stuff like these conspiraries in my cube. Maybe I give them a test run as additional cards, before deciding if they get actual slots in the cube. I am not cubing with any of the hidden agendas (or any other card that forces you to write something down) though.
One nice thing about all those draft altering cards is that they will be super cheap if you buy them as singles.
Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker R -- Maga, Traitor to Mortals B -- Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW -- Sliver Hivelord WUBRG
Highlights of his deck were probably Gavony Township and Slayers' Stronghold, which both get extra super stupid when they are utopia lands in addition to their special ability.
In short, it was incredibly *fun* and everyone talked about how much they enjoyed the games with it in play. Was it as good for him as a P1P1 Sol Ring? I doubt it. But it was way more entertaining, and I think that's about all you can ask for out of a cube card. I haven't decided what to do with conspiracies in general (I'm pretty hesitant to just add my 5 or 6 favorites to the card pool), but Worldknit will be the exception for sure.
Cubetutor Link
It would also support combo decks in the same way. Anything that is powerful but inconsistent gets better with this.
Picking this in pack 3 is quite different from picking it pack 1, as you are more likely to have wasted picks on fixing or cards that are bad for your deck. For instance, if there is nothing good for me when I am drafting aggro I might pick a sweeper to stop anyone from playing it against me. This is a card that actively hurts my strategy and I would not want to run. If you know you can run any card, you are more likely to pick cards that are at least playable in your deck.
Edit: @guyincorporated - I tried following your cube tutor link to see what sort of monster could be drafted from your cube with Worldknit P1P1, but the link goes to the main page not your cube.
My 380 Beginners’ Cube on Cube Tutor
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
Edit: regarding Unexpected Potential.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
My buddy & I thought that many Conspiracy cards would be good and each one we played was even better than we expected.
Advantageous Proclamation is a card that doesn't beat you over the head with how insane it is. Rather it casually increases your win percentage by increasing the chances you draw all of your insane cards.
Backup Plan was awesome for me. In all three games I kept the second set of seven I drew. Totally awesome. I likely would have had to mulligan two of the three original opening hands. There's also something really cool about drawing seven cards, looking at your hand then drawing seven more. So sweet.
Double Stroke is an absolute bonkers card. I was thinking of insane things like Recall, Time Walk or Demonic Tutor. Instead my Boros opponent Doubled up on Char. In game 1 he used it to burn me out at 8 life. In game 3 he used it to kill my Dungeon Geists & Hero of Bladehold. Both cards that Boros can struggle with & he 2-for-1'd me for 3 mana.
All three of those cards are easily first pickable in a powered Cube environment.
Brago's Favor was put on a card that never showed up in any of the games. I forget what he actually put it on but some cards my opponent could have used it on were Elspeth KE or Zealous Conscripts. It would have been better in my deck with cards like big Jace, Mana Vault or Sun Titan.
My opponent had Immediate Action on his Molten-Tail Masticore but never drew it. After some discussion he agrees he should have put it on his Keldon Marauders. All decks will want a card like this but some decks will value it higher. Besides creatures that attack, imagine putting it on something like Rofellos, Fauna Shaman or Bloodline Keeper to get immediate value.
Iterative Analysis allowed my opponent to pay one red mana to do 3 damage to my creature & then drew a card to replace it.
I never got to use Secrets of Paradise on my Wall of Omens but that would have been awesome.
My opponent was going to use Unexpected Potential to cast Elspeth in a R/G deck but he ended up R/W and instead used it to cast Dark Confidant in a Boros deck.
Worldknit didn't fit well with a grid draft so it didn't get played. However, we've done some drafts on CubeTutor assuming we drafted Worldknit P1p1. Obviously it gets worse the later you get it but these drafts were quite interesting and challenged how a person normally approaches a draft. Manlands become high picks (especially ones that don't enter tapped). Taking a good card versus a land becomes an actual decision. Here are the decks we drafted with Worldknit (in the order in which we drafted them):
http://cubetutor.com/cubedeck/132272
http://cubetutor.com/cubedeck/132287
http://cubetutor.com/cubedeck/132293
http://cubetutor.com/cubedeck/132299
http://cubetutor.com/cubedeck/132305
http://cubetutor.com/cubedeck/132309
http://cubetutor.com/cubedeck/132313
http://cubetutor.com/cubedeck/132322
http://cubetutor.com/cubedeck/132324
Paliano, the High City came around about 1/3 of the way through the draft. My opponent looked to be RGb. I therefore named U&W to go with his naming red. Of course he ended URW making Paliano the best land in his deck.
Cogwork Librarian was a neat card in a Grid draft format. Once it showed up it seemed to get swapped every pack. I can't wait to see how chaotic it will be in a regular-sized draft. This will be another high pick as it can enable two first picks in a future pack.
We used a few more Conspiracy cards but they didn't make an appearance in the draft. Overall we're very happy with how the cards played in the draft and are excited to see how they will perform in a traditional-sized draft. I'm glad I kept an open mind about testing these in my Cube because they've been way better than I expected. The 9 "Conspiracy" cards we're testing are:
Based on early returns I wouldn't be surprised if all of these cards stay in my Cube for the long term. Conspiracy will make the Cube environment a little higher variance than some people would like but I think the stories & situations that will happen during the games as well as how much more interactive the drafting will become make them worth trying.
Everyone should at least test a handful of Conspiracy cards to see how they play in your draft and to see how much your play group likes them. I can already tell that they're going to be a hit with my group.
My 540 card Powered Cube last updated March 2022
My 540 card Powered Cube last updated March 2022
Yeah, my opponent got Muzzio's Preparations with Kitchen Finks one match and Glen Elendra Archmage in another match. I didn't win either of those games. Thankfully he didn't get Goblin Bombardment for the auto-win
My 540 card Powered Cube last updated March 2022
Seems a little OP in my eyes
sometimes it's not that insane though. I imagine the "draw a card when you cast X" makes cards like firebolt and think twice awesome, not super insane like the aformentioned ones do
My 380 Beginners’ Cube on Cube Tutor
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
I knew there was some buyback card I was forgetting! Capsize doesn't really care I guess.
I think that's why I wont be using these name specific ones. the variance is already super high, but sometimes you get really broken interactions like the glen elendra archmage above
On another note, imagine Muzzio's Preparations on a Goblin Guide.
Draft it on Cubetutor!
Having a choice for your opening with Backup Plans in indeed powerful; and reducing your deck by 5 cards makes it significantly more consistent. These are the two I am considering, as they also require zero bookkeeping and they do not affect the mid game. Not sure if they are worth the cube spot, but my initial gut feeling is still not to include them.
In my Mirran cube though, Secret Summoning, Muzzio's Preparations, Secrets of Paradise, seems to be good with tokens (Myrs and Golems) and Myr Servitors (there are multiple mgr servitors available for drafting). Sentinel Dispatch is a free token every game that enables Metalcraft, Affinity, and all other Artifact matters cards. Plus they are all colourless that fits into the Mirran theme I like the fact that they are all played face up and require no bookkeeping. (Most likely will just name Myr, Golem or Servitor) which is simple enough.
EDIT: I realised that the 3 are still Hidden Agendas, but still it will be easy to keep track as "token tribal lords"
The Hidden Agendas become a lot more interesting in a Set Cube that runs multiples of commons and uncommons or a Double Cube that runs every card exactly twice. In a traditional singleton cube, they seem too swingy. When you don't draw that one named card, they do nothing, but some combinations are super strong and you get a huge advantage if you actually draw the named card.
Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker R -- Maga, Traitor to Mortals B -- Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW -- Sliver Hivelord WUBRG